Study: Fear Of The Dentist Is All In Your Head

BERLIN - OCTOBER 12: A dentist prepares to clean a patient's teeth in this photo illustration at a dentist's office on October 12, 2009 in Berlin, Germany. German political parties currently involved in federal government coalition negotiations, including the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), and the business-oriented German Free Democrats (FDP), are currently haggling over a restructuring of Germanys' Health Fund, or Gesundheitsfonds, the fund that provides the basis for Germany's state health care system. The CSU is pushing for more flexibilty in how the system is funded in order to allow for freer competition between the 180 different health insurance companies within the state health care system. The health care negotiations are part of broader negotiations between the CDU/CSU and the FDP in the creation of a new coalition government following nationwide elections in Germany last September)

. (Photo Illustration by Sean Gallup/Getty Images

ATLANTA, Ga. (CBS Atlanta) – For some, the thought of going to the dentist evokes anxiety and panic.

Now, researchers think they are closer to discovering an answer as to why this occurs by scanning people’s brains while playing them sounds of dental drills and suction instruments.

According to a report presented at a meeting for the Society for Neuroscience, researchers in Japan found that those who were terrified of dental visits showed marked differences in their brain responses than those who were more relaxed at the idea.

Japanese researcher and dentist Hiroyuki Karibe said figuring out how the brain reacts to the sounds could help scientists find different ways to make dental patients more relaxed.

“As a paediatric dentist, I’ve seen many patients since 1987, and from my clinical experience, I found that the sound of drilling can evoke anxiety in dental patients,” Karibe explained the South China Morning Post.

Karibe asked 21 women and 12 men aged 19 to 49 to complete a survey measuring how much they feared a trip to the dentist. He then split the participants up into high- and low-fear groups according to their scores on the survey.

Next participants had their brains scanned in a functional magnetic resonance imaging machine (fMRI). During the scans, a series of sounds including screeching dental drills and rasping suction tools were played.

“All of the participants were isolated in the fMRI room when they listened to the dental sounds, so we couldn’t see if they responded visibly or audibly to the dental sounds, but we could recognise their responses from their brain activity,” Karibe said to the paper.

Those in the low-fear group were not anxious about going to the dentist. Karibe explained parts of the brain responded more when they heard dental sounds than when they heard neutral sounds.

Participants who were anxious about going to the dentist responded completely differently. An intense response was seen in a region called the left caudate nucleus, which may play a role in remembering the sounds of the dental instruments.

“We believe the findings can be applied to assess the effectiveness of interventions such as cognitive behaviour therapy for patients who have a strong fear of dental treatment,” Karibe said the South China Morning Post.